Wage Scandal Tarnishes India’s Commonwealth Games
As India struggled to  prevent the Commonwealth Games from being cancelled on Sept. 23, human rights groups said that construction workers were being paid half the country’s minimum wage to toil on sites where accidents had killed dozens of workers. Organizers were trying to cope with unfinished buildings, a filthy athletic village,  and an outbreak of dengue fever, just hours  before thousands of athletes were scheduled to descend on New Delhi.

It was reported that India’s Prime Minister, Mannohan Singh, was holding an emergency meeting in a bid to avoid a widespread lawsuit of the event. Common Cause, a rights group,  said that at least 47 workers had died on sites linked to the Games, which are due to begin on Oct. 3. Many of the estimated 100,000 workers on Games’ sites were paid as little as 110 rupees ($2.40) per day, close to half of the mandated minimum wage of 203 rupees, said Kamala Jaswal, director and chief executive of Common Cause.

Held every four years by countries that were former British colonies, the Games are estimated to have cost as much as 6 billion dollars. India had hoped to use them to display its growing global economic and political clout, rivaling China. Instead, the Games have become a major embarrassment for the government, which has had to fend off criticism of shoddy construction, inadequate security and unfit accommodations.

Czech Unions Protest 10% Pay Cut  for Civil Servants
About 40,000 people took part in the demonstration against the planned 10 percent  reduction of  the wages of public sector workers.  The protest was staged by the unions on Sept. 23  in Prague. For about an hour and a half, union leaders, representing teachers,  policemen, firefighters and public administration workers, addressed the crowd, gathered at the center of the city.

The protesters carried  banners reading “Less Money, More Crime,” “Lower Your Own Pay” and “Yes to Savings, No to Cuts.”  Many of the police on duty, who monitored the demonstration, wore yellow ribbons on their uniforms to express their support for the demonstrators. No incident occurred during the protest.

The center-right government also wants the mandatory base pay to be reduced by 43 percent and “more space” given to personal bonuses. The unions warn they will stage further protests if their demands are not met.  The health and social care workers’ union has gone on strike alert and said it might stage a work stoppage on Oct. 13.

German Steelworkers Strike for 6% Pay Boost
Strikes  by unionized German steelworkers for a 6 percent wage  increase have spread to the heart of the country’s biggest steelmaking region that includes two global giant steelmakers, ThyssenKrupp and ArceloMittal. At 36 plants in Duisburg and  Bochum, 11,500 workers participated in token strikes lasting up to four hours as they sought  fairer staff agency pay and better working conditions, according to the IG Metal web site. Four blast furnaces were shut down  during the work stoppage.

The Steel Employers’ Association plans a meeting with IG Metall, Germany’s biggest union, on Sept. 28 to negotiate the issues in dispute. Georgsmarienhutte was reported to be facing a similar walkout by 900 employees in support of the wage demands. There were also token strikes at Bremen steel companies.

The IG Metall union is demanding higher pay for members at a time of tougher steel raw materials costs than a year earlier. It is not clear how the employer group will respond to the 6 percent wage demand. As of now, they have not made a  public counter  offer or indicated what they are prepared to settle for in contract negotiations

A Profit-Sharing Bill by Argentina’s Unions Is Rejected by Employers
A bill, sponsored by Argentina’s powerful CGT unions,  proposes that companies must redistribute 10 percent of their earnings, which are not invested, to their workforce. Leaders of an employers’ group representing seven industries are strongly opposed to the profit-sharing idea, saying that the bill “clashes” with their “property rights.”

The employers say the bill grants unions an interference power that collides with the constitutional principles of private property, since unions will be entitled to monitor company finances and access  commercially confidential information, “well above that enjoyed by shareholders.”

 After their meeting, the Group of Seven issued a press release  that “expressed their greatest concern which such a far-reaching initiative that was drafted with no consultation with the business sector, at a time when the country needs a strong increase in investments in order to generate more employment and development.” The employers appear to be willing to submit the profit-sharing issue to a tripartite committee of the International Labor organization (ILO).

Brazilian Unions Secure Record Pay Hikes in Auto Sector
Automakers Ford, Scania, Volkwagen and Mercedes-Benz agreed on Sept. 19 to the biggest pay increase on record from car manufacturers in Brazil, after a series of warning strikes. The agreement includes a 10.28 percent pay boost and an R$2,200 (US $1,270) bonus. With inflation running at 4.29 percent, the 10.28 increase represents a  real pay boost of 6.26 percent, the largest increase ever in the auto sector in Brazil.

“This achievement is further proof that the ABC metalworkers know how to work, but also ”know how to negotiate and to struggle,” said Sergio Nobre; president of the ABC Metalworkers; Union. It is an extraordinary benchmark.“  Elsewhere, metalworkers at Renault and Volvo stopped work and also achieved the 10.28 pay increase and an R$4,200 (US $2,400) bonus.

The agreement, which benefits about  4,000 workers, will be paid out in two installments, one on Sept. 24 and the second on Oct. 8. In Camaan, Bahia,  a union of about 10,000 Ford workers not affiliated with the IMF, signed an agreement with a 9.4 percent pay raise.

Greek Truckers Block Country’s Largest Port  as Strike Continues
Greek truck drivers blocked  hundreds of tons of freight from being loaded and unloaded to the Greek islands at the country’s largest port at Pireaus on Sept. 24 in a continuing showdown with the government’s new law that will open up their occupation to competition. More than 5,000 freight containers were left stuck at the port.

Unions made the decision to extend the strike after rejecting  tax and pension benefits offered by the government and vowing to continue into the second week of the strike. The work stoppage has blocked traffic on major highways and has caused food and medication shortages in northern Greece and many of the country’s islands. The new law, which opens up competition not only among truck drivers, but also pharmacists, civil engineers and other professions, was approved Sept. 22.

Unions say that many drivers have paid between 200,000 and  400,000 euros ($268,000 and $536,000) to buy licenses which were now worth almost nothing. Greece has promised to reform the labor market as part of austerity measures it agreed to in exchange for a 110 billion euro emergency funding package to avoid default from the European Union  (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).